


Purgatory

by MeinongsJungleBook



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Found Family, Guilt, Healing, Other, traumatic memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-09-13
Packaged: 2019-07-11 19:28:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15978902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeinongsJungleBook/pseuds/MeinongsJungleBook
Summary: Alone with Ironhide and Bob on a desolate Cybertron, Sunstreaker is gradually able to heal.





	Purgatory

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to a request for Ironhide/Sunstreaker.

Sunstreaker’s brief symbiosis with Hunter O’Nion had caused a number of unwelcome human concepts to filter through into his brain; one of those concepts was the idea of a purgatory, a place entered following death that was neither a pit of eternal torment nor a paradise of eternal happiness. A person entering purgatory didn’t face torture, but they did face hardship, which they had to endure in order to purify them of their sins so that they could be redeemed and eventually leave purgatory and enter paradise for the rest of eternity.

Lying broken and alone at the bottom of a pit amongst Insecticon corpses on a dead and abandoned Cybertron with the thoughts of what he had done running endlessly through his head had made Sunstreaker think he was in what the humans called Hell, condemned to suffer for all eternity for his sins. It wasn’t like that wasn’t where he deserved to end up, after what he had done and all the suffering and death he was responsible for. Yet it turned out that this wasn’t his eternal fate after all, as he had been plucked from this pit of corpses and whisked away to have his damage tended to by a legend. Now, out of the pit but still on a dead Cybertron, not so utterly broken but with his legs still non-functional, Sunstreaker felt more like he was in purgatory.

Ironhide’s situation was actually rather similar to purgatory, given that he had arrived here following his death and been tasked with the ordeal of fighting his way through the Insecticon swarm by a figure many regarded as divine, although the redemption and purity Ironhide was fighting for was less for himself and more for their very world. Sunstreaker on the other hand very much needed to redeem himself, and though he wasn’t in his most functional state, he was willing to do whatever it took to get whatever measure of redemption was on offer. So he gave Ironhide any help he was able to, and steadily the state of Cybertron started to improve.

As he watched Cybertron gradually get better, Sunstreaker started to feel himself get a bit better, and just as much of the improved state of Cybertron was thanks to Ironhide’s efforts, the same could be said of his own state of mind. After all the time spent alone with only the agony of his own guilt-ridden thoughts and horrifying memories, having someone else around to talk to, especially someone as affable as Ironhide, was an overwhelming relief. Ironhide asked Sunstreaker a lot of questions in an effort to fill in the enormous gap in his memories, and Sunstreaker latched onto the opportunity to talk to Ironhide whenever he could, as it provided the distraction he desperately needed from his painful thoughts. Ironhide’s warm presence and kind and encouraging words were such a stark contrast against the hellish experience that Ironhide himself had pulled Sunstreaker out of, and being around him helped steadily numb the memories of that awful time.

Eventually Sunstreaker and Ironhide’s partnership evolved into a little family of sorts after they adopted Bob into their fold, and Sunstreaker found his spark fuller than it had been in quite some time. Bob’s affection was simple and genuine, and even in his semi-functional state Sunstreaker could offer him the kind of care he’d never had before. Being there for someone else made Sunstreaker feel good, like it justified the fact he was no longer suffering at the bottom that pit. Caring for Bob, being with Ironhide, and steadily fixing their broken world all helped do wonders for Sunstreaker’s psyche, and Sunstreaker found himself thinking that he could actually be content like this, with just the three of them on their mostly empty planet. Sunstreaker felt happier being with Ironhide every day, and he was starting to think that he was someone he could spend his life with, while he had no intent of ever giving up on Bob. When they were together, it felt like their purgatory could one day become a paradise.


End file.
